IN that last twilight of the May we sat Upon the lake shore, wide before us spread A dream of waters, like a wrinkled silk Of moonstone gray and silver; overhead A maple tree hung out its living green And leaned above the shallow pools and made A broad and wavering rosette of shade; -- And over the far hill and the turrets high Lingered the luminous apricot of sky. And as we climbed familiar steps and the halls Loomed darkly up with windows yellow-glazed, And slim white moving figures, and the sound Of music playing; as we entering gazed On that young bloom and morning loveliness -- A something sharp and mutinous smote in me, That this bright dancing youth must pass, and be No more the witchery of light and line That seems the very essence of divine. Then a clear message wove within my soul, -- Beauty has many forms; each one must serve; And we being born are given to express The perfect cycle, -- first of color and curve And then the subtler beauty of the mind And opening spirit, -- to the wider heart There is no aging, we are each a part Of the great fleet that trims its little sails And steers to beauty through the gulfs and gales. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN MAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR UPON HIS DEPARTURE HENCE by ROBERT HERRICK SWITZERLAND AND ITALY by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES FEELINGS OF A REPUBLICAN ON THE FALL OF BONAPARTE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY MAUD MULLER by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER FRIENDS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS IN THE WATER by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS |